


Cactus Flower

by Dusty_Forgotten



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: F/M, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-04
Updated: 2014-07-04
Packaged: 2018-02-07 09:41:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1894311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dusty_Forgotten/pseuds/Dusty_Forgotten
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carla lives. Boone protects her, this time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cactus Flower

He loves her.

Their first child is stillborn, but that’s okay, because he loves her, and they try again. Carla’s six months pregnant, and ornery as a deathclaw, and he loves her. He can’t wait to be a father.

He’ll protect them.

It’s hard to focus at work, because he keeps looking towards their room, where Carla’s probably asleep, trying to get back on a diurnal schedule because it’s healthier for children. He loves her. Craig wonders what he’s going to do to keep his job and make sure his child knows their father. There’s not much going on around Novac, but late at night he can see light coming from Nelson. He asks Manny, but the daytime sky has no contrast. He suggests trading shifts once the baby’s born, and Manny says he’d like to try out a night shift to check how he sees at night.

Manny’s working tonight, so Boone takes the opportunity to check out Nelson. Fire. Crosses. Legion. Something swirls in his stomach, a territorial rage.

He has to protect them this time.

Boone sets up on the ridge. He takes down every last one of them, and puts out the soldiers. They’ve been hanging too long. Then he quietly heads back to Novac. Manny watches. He doesn’t ask.

About a week later, Andy comes up to the dino. Asks if he can see Ranger Station Charlie. Asks if he’s seen the NCR down there recently. He hasn’t.

After his shift ends, he heads down to Ranger Station Charlie. It’s a ghost town. The inside is a mortuary. He grabs the holotape off the desk, and runs before the frag mine he spotted can go off. There’s someone up on the ridge. He thinks Legion, but doesn’t dare to look too close and let on he knows he’s being watched. There’s at least three, scattered. There has to be more.

Carla wants mutfruit. He chases down a caravan that just passed through. He loves her.

He takes fewer breaks. He can feel the Legion closing in around them, like a noose. No one sees. They have to have a contact, a spy. Whoever sold Carla. She begged him to stop looking. He won’t let it happen again.

He’ll protect them this time.

He’s no good with people, but he’s good at listening, and he’s good at hiding. Cliff loses more inventory than he sells. Dusty takes long walks at night. There’s nowhere to hide anything around Novac- except one safe in the lobby. Jeannie May has the key.

Carla says she wants to move to Freeside before the baby’s born. Novac bores her. He likes Novac. He loves her.

An NCR recon team passes through. He tells them about Ranger Station Charlie. They tell him about Nipton, a decanus from Nelson running to Cottonwood Cove, and back with reinforcements. There are fires over Nelson that night, brighter than before. Novac isn’t safe anymore.

He’ll protect them this time.

Carla hates Novac more loudly every day, and he overhears Jeannie May saying that a woman horrible enough to hate a place as sweet as Novac deserves to be sold into slavery. That night, he breaks into Jeannie May’s room while she’s asleep, and takes the key from her nightstand. He opens the safe, and replaces the key before she wakes. He doesn’t sleep that day.

Carla asks why he’s been sneaking around. He doesn’t know what to tell her.

He’s protecting them.

Boone buys a silenced .22 from Cliff the next day, and breaks into Jeannie May’s room again at night.

He’s protecting them.

Carla says she saw him sneaking into Jeannie May’s room. She accuses him of cheating. Boone’s no good with people. He loves her. He was going to take her to Freeside. It won’t be long until someone finds the body. He has to get out of Novac.

A “courier” is in town. He says he’s leaving that night. He’s a sniper. Snipers travel in pairs.

He’s protecting them.


End file.
